Beer Camp: Golden IPA (2017) | Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

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At Beer Camp, no beer style is off limits, so we jumped at the idea of doing a Golden IPA using wheat malt for a light, dry body and bold American and experimental hops for intense citrus flavor. The perfect spring seasonal, we invite you to enjoy this year’s Beer Camp encore.

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. Pours golden yellow with a small white head. Smells of sweet citrus and sweet grain. Tastes of sweet grain and citrus hops. Beer is light bodied and very easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a very good beer.

A: Pours hazy yellow with a soapy, one-finger head, medium retention, mild lacing.
S: Lots of pine in the nose right off, definite zippy wheat character, mild cheesy aroma, some citrus some grapefruit, pretty much what you'd expect but well executed nonetheless
T: The tartness and mild floral character of the wheat (and the lack of a prominent malt body, since it is wheat) contributes to the bitterness blending with the wheaty tartness in such a way that it is more immediately felt. Don't get me wrong, this is not an especially bitter beer, you just notice the bitterness much quicker than in others. Pine, but not too much citrus which I was expecting, something that borders on cucumber but not to the extent that it's offensive.
M: Sticky and with a medium body but nothing that stands out.
O: This is solid, but it's nothing special, if you are in the super market and you see it, go ahead and buy it, it's enjoyable and would be very satisfying on a hot summer day.

Pours a hazy golden color. 1/3 inch head of a white color. Great retention and great lacing. Smells of citrus hops, slight piney hops, floral hops, pale malt, slight sweet malt, and a hint of alcohol. Fits the style of an American IPA. Mouth feel is smooth and crisp, with an average carbonation level and noticeable bitterness. Tastes of citrus hops, slight piney hops, floral hops, pale malt, slight sweet malt, and a hint of alcohol. Overall, good appearance, not overly bitter, and good blend.

T: not a lot of flavor either; a little earthy up front, then citrusy through the finish; mild bitterness at the end;

M: medium bodied; moderate carbonation; lightly dry finish;

O: easy drinking; refreshing; not memorable as an IPA; although Sierra Nevada beers tend to hold their hop character longer than other breweries, this beer was 5 months old, which may have effected the how much hops I was able to detect;

It is hazy soft golden color with thick frothy white head as a showcase. The head withstands with very good retention before slowly collapsing to an everlasting bubble layer on the surface and leaving plenty of lacing here and there.

The aroma is very juicy and fruity hop of tropical, citrus, orange peel, pineapple, lime, unriped mango, spice, and dankness. Malt is there in the undertone with notes of bread and biscuit.

It is led by hoppy goodness of tropical, citrus, orange peel, pineapple, lime, unriped mango, dankness, and spice, just like the aroma together with some bitterness. Malt is still in the supporting with its bread and biscuit with some touch of wheat while the end and aftertaste is wrapped up and lasting with moderate bitterness and some residual fruitiness.

Medium body with some good crisp and lively carbonation, the feeling is smooth with good refreshing touch and a pleasantly dry finish.

Good IPA indeed with its very juicy and fruity hop profile through both the aroma and flavor, wheat in the bill helps to make it more light and enable hop to shine through.

Even though it is not a part of the Around the World 12-pack, I wanted to include this beer in my current SN horizontal. Plus, it came in bottle format & I am on an ongoing mission to whittle down & eradicate The Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody. Fun times, kids!

From the bottle: :Spring Seasonal [-] A New Beer Every Year"; "At Beer Camp, no beer style is off limits, so we jumped at the idea of doing a Golden IPA using wheat malt for a light, dry body and bold American and experimental hops for intense citrus flavor. The perfect spring seasonal, we invite you to enjoy this year’s Beer Camp encore."; "We brew in Chico, CA, and Mills River, NC, to bring you the finest quality beer."

I Pop!ped the cap & commenced a slow, gentle pour, followed by a vigorous in-glass swirl. This action created two-plus fingers of foamy, soapy, rocky, bone-white head with modest retention. Color was a shiny Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5) with NE-quality clarity, like sunshine in my glass! Be-yoo-tee-full! I have never seen The Gelt Gang of Croesus, Midas & Mammon appear so quickly or so greedily! Wow. Nose was very grapefruit-citrusy & my hophead mouth began to water uncontrollably. I like the new tropical fruit flavors currently being imparted in AIPAs, but I sometimes miss a good citrusiness. Mouthfeel was medium, which was pleasant enough, but nothing spectacular. The taste was not only of grapefruit, but also of biscuit malt and the wheat malt gave it a faint tang to go with the bitterness. Recently, I have heard people say that they are into IBUs, but I am an SRM guy. Still, I would be curious to know what the IBU count is in this beer. Finish was dry, bitter & totally what the doctor ordered. Mmm.

Bottled. Poured into frosted 12 oz bar glass. A slightly hazed straw color. Ample white head that gave way to nice lacing. Hop flavor was pine forward, but interesting fruitiness and nice bitterness on the finish. I picked up a 6-pack because I saw it labeled as Golden IPA. I think it could have been called a west coast Pilsner. It's very drinkable especially right after mowing the yard.

APPEARANCE: pours a cloudy light and bright, straw color with one-finger white head that slowly dissipated until a thin layer of small bubbles remained, there is moderate lacing on the glass, medium carbonation.

SMELL: bread and pineapple citrus.

TASTE: initially pineapple citrus and bread then a pine note at the finish.

PALATE: medium body and somewhat creamy.

OVERALL: I love Sierra Nevada, always something new and exciting, this was a fun beer, combining characteristics of a wheat beer with an IPA seems to work just fine, I still love SNPA to this day and always have room in my fridge for anything this brewer produces, SN is a perennial all-star in my book.

Sierra Nevada Golden IPA has a medium-to-thick, slightly off-white, soapy head, a hazy, yellow-gold appearance, with tight bubble streams, some powdery and chunky tan sediment, roiling about, and a bit of glass lacing. Aroma is of strong biscuit and cracker notes, with a background lemony aspect. Flavor is the same, with building bitterness. Mouthfeel is medium, and Sierra Nevada Golden IPA finishes on the dry side.

Sierra Nevada at back at it again: Beer Camp! For 2017 it’s a Golden IPA (whatever that is). Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Golden IPA 2017 - which I will, in my usual tradition, henceforth brand as: SNBCGIPA’17. I love SN... wait, love is a bit powerful a word, I like SN... hmmm, still too powerful, SN is alright. Yeah, better. Last year’s Beer Camp was a high water mark IMO: Tropical IPA. It will be interesting to see how this wheat loaded brew will compare... I don’t suspect favourably, but let’s keep an open mind Doc, after all: it’s just beer! *gets pummelled with shaker pint glasses thrown by various craft beer hipsters* OK, beer is awesome! Can someone drive me to the hospital now?

Poured from a 355ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Easily mistaken for a wheat beer in a dark Munich alleyway with its hazed golden/straw body and rather fluffy white head. It’s golden - it fits the brief, the fact that it’s got a slight naturtrüb haze is a bonus. 8/10.

S: Aroma like a glass of Sierra Nevada’s own Pale Ale, let me copy/paste my description from that review in case you forgot what SNPA smells like: Floral hops lead my nose to an ale paradise with a hint of caramel malts in the background. I would add that there’s a definite citrus vibe with SNBCGIPA’17 as well. I gave SNPA a 10/10, but that was a long time ago (2011, fuck!)... now it’s more like a: 7/10.

T: Lemon, biscuit and caramel malts, and floral hop notes all packaged in an easy-drinking mildly bitter finish. This is one easy-drinking-lemon-mofo for better/worse. Another reminder that not every beer needs to be balls-to-the-wall intense, however in this instance a little more intensity wouldn’t go astray... just saying SN. 7/10.

D: What else is there to say - another decent SN brew, not the best in their oeuvre, however it’s a tasty enough IPA to knock back... actually it’s more of an APA TBH. I could drink this with a Pirate Life Pale and not end up with palate fatigue, so really the IPA label is a bit of a misapplication... though it is 6.5% ABV, so I guess in that sense it’s really an IPA... but flavour-wise it’s a touch light for an IPA... umm, what day is it today??? 7/10.

Food match: The largest German sausage you can find... Boerewors doesn’t count: that’s South African... in a bun. Add mustard. Onions? Why not.

Nice look. hazy gold with hint of Orange. Bright white head lasts with great lacing and continuing carbonation. Pleasant smell, slightly sweet, hint of citrus. Taste adds a little pine, and then turns hard with very drying aftertaste. Dryness builds as you drink, and sticks around with some bitter on the aftertaste.

T/F: Light malts and a fairly mild hop profile. Notes of citrus and evergreen... not bitter in the least. Somewhat floral with more malt sweetness than hop character. Clean and clear... well carbonated and light in body.

O: A very mild IPA... easy drinking... somewhat forgettable, but not bad by any means. Sierra Nevada has much better IPA's, but for a light spring/summer beer this is ok.

2017, pkgd 01/24/17. 12oz bottle served in pint glass. Beer pours pale golden yellow, as expected, forming a small white head, and has the slightest amount of wheaty haze -- which by Sierra Nevada standards is outright chunky, of course. Aroma is sweet and citrusy, with fresh orange fruit and blossoms. First sip brings a satisfyingly ample mouthfeel. Often wheat provides a thin mouthfeel, appropriate for a Summer (or Spring) oriented IPA, but in this case the incomplete filtration, along with the moderate and fine carbonation, only serves to amplify the ale-worthy mouthfeel.

Flavor is crisp and dry without being overly bitter. The citrus carries through to the flavor combines with the carbonation (again!) to form a really subtle astringency.

Hazy, light yellow with a one finger high, white, creamy head.
Nose: Citrus, lemon, grass and some earthy notes.
Taste: A lot of lemon, pine, grass and caramel.
Mouth: Medium body and carbonation. A great balanced bitterness at the end.